Friday, May 20, 2016

The Princess Ingrid Alexandra Sculpture Park opened on 19 May. Princess Ingrid Alexandra stood at the unveiling of the sculptures and hundreds of small and big guests were in place in the Palace Park. The Princess Ingrid Alexandra Sculpture Park is a park from children - for children. It is established on the occasion of the King and Queen's 25th jubilee, and both the King and Queen, Crown Prince Couple, Prince Sverre Magnus
and Princess Astrid, Mrs. Ferner, were present along with Princess Ingrid Alexandra at the
opening.

Photo: Lise Åserud, NTB scanpix

His Majesty King Harald gave the opening speech and wished all children a warm welcome.

This day is a day we in Royal Family have looked forward to. For many years we wanted a sculpture park especially for children. And finally it stands ready, initially with three sculptures. Two of them are brand new, the third stood at Akershus Fortress. Eventually, there will be more. They are here for you, they are to take on, and not just for decoration.

Photo: Lise Åserud, NTB scanpix

And the kids took King Harald's words - it did not take long from the unveiling of the sculptures when they were already in use.The sculptures are the first of a nationwide contest that will run for several years and result in a total of 10 sculptures. Sculpture park is a gift from Sparebankstiftelsen DNB.The
two new sculptures that were unveiled, a Geometric fox and rabbit
in trouble created by Sofie Sollid Gjertsen, from Setermoen school and Emma
Hansen, from Ballangen School. Their two contributions were selected from hundreds of contributions from northern Norway. The kids make the characters, while craftsmen have built the sculptures.

Photo: Lise Åserud, NTB scanpix

In addition to the two, "Pillow Man" by Jonas Gjerstad, Martin
Formation and Mathias Svendsen from Sagdalen skole was borrowed from
the sculpture trail at Akershus Fortress.Approximately 900 kindergarten children were guests at the event. Together with their adult companions, they were served bowls and juice of Akiko's employees. 2500 bowls and 400 liters of sap went with.

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

The Crown Prince has agreed to become patron of the new association
Denmark Bridge, which aims to ensure Danish companies and entrepreneurs
better access to knowledge, networking and capital in Silicon Valley,
USA.Silicon
Valley in California, USA, is described as an epicenter for the
development of new technologies and growth-oriented business models. The association Denmark Bridge will therefore strengthen the bridge
between the Danish business and development in Silicon Valley, so that
Denmark can help to shape this development, especially on IT.The association offers membership to all Danish companies and organizations. The association is established by A. P. Moller - Maersk, the Danish Bank, DI, LEGO and Growth Fund in
collaboration with the Business and Growth Ministry of Foreign Affairs
and of Education and Research Ministry.Denmark Bridge is part of the government's recent stimulus package and
will prepare the ground for strategic networking and knowledge sharing
at the highest level and thereby support Danish companies and
entrepreneurs' access to knowledge and capital in Silicon Valley.Denmark
Bridge will bring together a number of Danish companies interested in
the technology development and the opportunities it offers for
companies' business development and growth. Specifically, Denmark Bridge phase out certain types of activities on
both sides of the Atlantic, which allows members to rethink business
models, along thinking value chains and take advantage of business
critical technology with like-minded people on the other side of the
Atlantic.The association is open to all companies, organizations and individuals.

Monday, May 2, 2016

The foundation stone of the new National Museum was laid today. Queen Sonja and Crown Princess Mette-Marit attended together the ceremony. The ceremony took place at the triangle plot by Western Railway in Oslo, where the National Museum is expected to be completed in 2019, opening the following year.
Together, the Queen and Crown Princess let foundation stone casket. The coffer contains a Coat of arms of Norway, drawings of the building, construction documents, a årssett of coins, a årssett of stamps, invitation and guest list for the foundation laying ceremony. With the casket in a sack, performance artist Tori Wrånes was hoisted up by a crane and transported over the construction site where the stone would be laid down. Live music and a salute from boats at the docks gave a masterful setting for the event.

Photo: Heiko Junge/NTB Scanpix

The new National Museum was designed by the German architect Klaus Schuwerk. On the site there are at least 800 people working on the building, and the area is over 54,000 square meters. The total exhibition area will be 13,000 square meters, the equivalent of two football fields.
The new National Museum will be a continuation of the National Museum, established as Norway's first public art museum by the Parliament in 1837. Later, this, along with the Museum of Decorative Arts, Museum of Architecture, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, merged into National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo in 2003.

Photo: Heiko Junge/NTB Scanpix

Statsbygg is responsible for the construction of the new museum. An estimated 750,000 visitors will stop by each year.

For the third year in a row, Crown Princess Mette-Marit is out on the literature train with good writers and books on board. This year's theme is 'Outside cabinet'. Literature Train 2016 runs along the Bergen Line. In 2014 it went from Bodo to Stjørdal, and in 2015 it also stopped on Dovrebanen.

Photo: Erlend Aas/NTB Scanpix

Litteraturhuset in Bergen is the venue for the first event on 1 June, the night before the departure. The train arrives to Oslo on June 3, where there will be a closing event at the House of Literature there. The literature train has one purpose: to inspire the love of reading. There is a book for everyone!
On the trip from Bergen to Oslo the Literature train will stop at Voss, Gol and Hønefoss, before the last event at the House of Literature in Oslo.
At each stop there will be activities in the form of discussions with authors and readings from the books at the local library. The authors participating are: Jonas Hassen Khemiri (Bergen), Agnes Ravatn (Voss), Lars Saabye Christensen (Hønefoss) and Geir Gulliksen (Oslo). There will also be meeting with biographer Kim Friele in Gol.
There is also the opportunity to visit a library wagon on the train. It is equipped in cooperation with the Oslo Public Library, where one can enjoy themselves and get acquainted with new books and authors. Many of the Crown Princess's own favorite books will also be found aboard Kong carriage.

On 30 April, King Carl XVI Gustaf celebrated his 70th Birthday, the festivities started with a Te Deum at the Royal Chapel in Stockholm.
Among foreign royal guests were King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain, Princess Takamado of Japan, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and Prince Albert II.

After the TeDeum, all the royal guests were joined by Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands, Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark and Princess Märtha-Louise of Norway and husband Ari Behn for the Armed Forces celebration for the King at the Palace's Courtyard.

When the Armed Forces and changing of the guard ended, everyone headed to the Palace's balcony where a chorus sang to King Carl Gustaf. This time the family was joined by almost 2-month-old Prince Oscar, who was making his balcony debut.

To finish with the day celebrations, the city of Stockholm offered a lunch for everyone at the City Hall. The King and Queen arrived by carriage. Princess Sofia didn't attend the lunch as she returned home to be with Prince Alexander.